Slots games are the most played gambling game in the world, beating poker, blackjack, and roulette hands down. In fact, most casinos rely on slot games to keep the doors open, seeing the slot game section as the backbone of the entire establishment.
To be more specific, it can be calculated that the average casino sees about 85% of all its annual profit from slot games. That’s right; if it weren’t for slot games we probably wouldn’t have casinos at all. Interesting, right? Well, if you think that’s interesting, here are 5 more slot game facts to make you nod and go; “hmmm, amazing.”
1. Average Bets An Hour
One of the main things that casinos are concerned with is how many bets the average player places per hour. Bets, after all, add up to the establishments expected earnings, so the more bets per hour, the better. If you take the average blackjack table, it is expected that the average player will get through about 60 hands per hour. This is a fair amount, you’ll probably agree, especially since there is usually more than one person playing blackjack in the average casino, at any given time.
So, now you’re probably wondering what the average spins per slot game is. Taking the average slot game, and assuming that an average player is spinning, there are about 600 spins per hour. Take those 600 spins and multiply them by the number of players engaged in a slot game at a given time, and you start to understand why slot games are the backbone of a casino. To put it bluntly; slot games are almost a license to print money.
2. Online and Real Slot Games Are Identical
If you thought there was some sort of difference between online and real world slot games, you would have been dead wrong. The two versions of the game are identical down to the smallest detail. They are, in fact, the exact same games, and work under the exact same rules. For all means and purposes, a real world slot game is just an online slot game in a box.
Many rumours have circulated that either online or real world slot games are in some way programmed to change their payouts, designed to lure in players and trap them until they are drained of funds. This is not true. The games are entirely random in the way they operate, by law. If you’re looking for some difference of any kind, online slots games have a slightly higher payout percentage. This is because online casinos have almost no overheads, and so can afford to be slightly more generous.
3. Slots Don’t Offer the Best Odds
When talking about the best odds in a casino, many will automatically say slots. However slots are not the games with the best odds - not by far. If blackjack is played with a perfect strategy, assuming you’re the kind of person who memorises strategies, blackjack has a house edge of just 0.5% to 1%. That’s pretty amazingly generous, especially considering the house edge of a few other casino games can be many times that percentage. In the video poker version of poker, however, a person playing with perfect strategy can get that house edge down to a staggering 0.1%. This is practically unheard of in the casino world.
Don’t get out the sparklers and start celebrating just yet, however, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, these percentages only apply to certain video poker games, the ones with pay tables that specify 9/6. This means payouts of 9 to 1 for the player hitting a full house, and payouts of 6 to 1 for the player hitting a flush. Not all poker games have these payouts, and the ones that do are becoming increasingly rare. If you do find these payouts, and happen to have memorised a perfect play strategy, then you can break out the sparklers.
4. Slot Games Paid Out In Gum
You may have noticed the reoccurring theme of fruit in slot games, and assumed it was just a quirky design choice someone made at some point. In actual fact some of the first slot games used to pay out in chewing gum, and the fruit represented the flavour of the gum that would be paid out. Slot games have long since stopped paying out in gum, of course, but the tradition was carried through to modern times.
5. Grandmothers and Gambling
The Wheel of Fortune slot game is one of the most popular in casinos around the world. Curious as to find out why this was, a team conducted a survey to find out why players preferred the game. In a rather amazing result, it was revealed that many players chose the Wheel of Fortune slot game because it reminded them of watching the television show with their grandmother. Who would have guessed there was a link between grandmothers and slots game choices?
